‘Grand old daddy’ begs for action

Indervir Grewal

Tribune News service

Lucknow, December 9

All through Austria’s match against Argentina, a grey-haired Indian man writhed every time the Europeans missed a chance. And when they finally got the equaliser in the 63rd minute, he pumped his fist in joy.

The man, Cedric D’Souza, is a familiar face in hockey circles — in fact, he likes to call himself the ‘grand old daddy’ of hockey. D’Souza, a former India coach, is now coach of the Austrian junior team, a job he took after the team qualified for the World Cup in March.

Austria, not counted among the major hockey-playing nations, are making their debut at the junior World Cup. However, D’Souza said that he hadn’t thought of it as a daunting job. “I had coached there at a club for three years so I knew that Austria has a strong club culture,” D’Souza said.

What change was needed? “They lacked international exposure so I decided to take them to the butcher’s den, pitting them against top European teams,” he added.

“Austria’s federation is small and the money is little; the government support is not much,” said manager Nitan Sondhi. The players pool their money to cover their expenses.

So how did you manage to bring the change? “I told you I am the ‘grand old daddy’ so I used my contacts. I begged the other coaches to play with us,” D’Souza said.

“We started by playing in the Netherlands, where we got butchered. Then we went to Germany, England and again to the Netherlands,” he added.

How has that helped? “There has been a huge improvement. Today’s performance proves it (Austria held Argentina 1-1). This result has got us respect,” he said.

Is playing in the bigger leagues a motivation for Austrians? “In fact, that is my most important target. I want my players to leave Austria and play in the Netherlands or Germany. That will help them improve, and my team will improve,” he said. “From this team, three guys play in Germany.”

D’Souza saw today’s draw as a part of the process. “This is a process, sometimes we will get the results, sometimes we won’t. My target is the 2020 Olympics,” he added.

Loud and proud mamas from Argentina

Before Argentina’s opener against Austria, captain Ignacio Correa got a huge, but pleasant, surprise. To cheer for her son, Correa’s mother, Julia, has travelled literally to the other side of the world. She isn’t the only player-mother here — seven others have come all the way to India to watch their sons play here. However, unlike the other sons, Correa had no idea about his mother’s visit.

Being from middle-class families, it was a big decision for these women to spend so much money. “It wasn’t cheap. We all made sacrifices to be here. A couple of us sold our cars to fund this trip,” said Valeria, mother of Nicolas Keenan. “But we wanted to make it special for the boys.” For some, it was extra special as they were meeting their sons for the first time in almost a year as the boys had been away from home, training at the national camps. 

Girls play hockey

Most of these women come from hockey families and had themselves played the sport at some level, which was the main reason for their sons taking up the sport. Till very recently, men’s hockey was not as popular as women’s hockey in Argentina. The mothers explained that in Argentina, hockey had been associated with girls — it was played in social clubs, while the boys took up basketball, rugby or football.

“When I first asked my son to play hockey, he cried ‘but it’s for girls’,” said Maria, mother of Agustin Rios. “But the mentality has changed, especially after the men won the Rio Olympics gold.”

The senior men’s win has brought the juniors under the spotlight, and they’re counted among the favourites here. But the mothers aren’t fussed about winning gold. “They have worked hard to be here, so if they win, great, otherwise we will always support them,” said Valeria.

And the eight women made sure that in an almost empty stadium, their sons got rousing support.